Abstract
This article focuses on how shamanism and animism, two important features of Altaic ontology, can be expressed in art. This is discussed by exploring the art of Sergei Dykov, a contemporary Altaic (south Siberian) visual artist, whose art is part of a wider trend in modern Siberian art of rediscovering the conceptual potentials of indigenous Siberian values. Dykov is one of those artists whose fascination with Siberian culture is not limited to formal inspirations but who also seeks how to express these indigenous values in contemporary art forms. Drawing on Altaic folklore, its myths and beliefs, including shamanism, as well as ancient Siberian art forms, Dykov searches for a new visual language capable of expressing the Altaic perception of the world. For him, therefore, painting is significantly an intellectual project involving an attempt to understand the indigenous ontology of being in the world. The key concepts around which his art revolves are thus human-animal transformations, human and non-human beings’ relations, and the interconnectedness of the visible and nonvisible. The study was based on an analysis of a sample of his unpublished artworks.
Highlights
The past and tradition are important aspects that shape modern perceptions of Siberia, and they are significant in ongoing cultural processes
A clear division between indigenous and other arts does not seem to be acknowledged in Siberia; for example, exhibitions promoting contemporary art have been jointly attended by artists from different ethnic backgrounds
Copying petroglyphs and incorporating them to artworks is, according to him, repeating what has already been done. This is the reason why, rock art is a great inspiration for him, obvious rock images, as I have already pointed out, cannot be found in his works. Both prehistoric and ethnographic art forms are always conceptually and graphically interpreted in his works, like the X-ray motif in The Entrance to the Lower World, semicircles inspired by shamanic drum paintings in the Almys Woman, the cup of the Lady of the Lake, ayes of the hitchracks or the central oval form in the Starry Settlement
Summary
The past and tradition are important aspects that shape modern perceptions of Siberia, and they are significant in ongoing cultural processes. A clear division between indigenous and other arts does not seem to be acknowledged in Siberia; for example, exhibitions promoting contemporary art (e.g., the series of exhibitions “Siberia” or “Form” held in Novokuznetsk in Kemerovo Oblast–Suslov and Chepis 2019) have been jointly attended by artists from different ethnic backgrounds How all of these different artists draw on Siberia’s past and tradition, including beliefs, ethnographic and prehistoric art forms, and ritual practices is a topic that would exceed the capacity of one article. Before moving on to Dykov’s artworks themselves, I first outline the Altai heritage, which is the main source of his artistic inspiration
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